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Passenger deletions that deactivate essential genes provide new opportunity to strike cancer

Genomic deletions promote cancer by carving up or eliminating tumor-suppressor genes, but now scientists report in the journal Nature that the collateral damage they inflict on neighboring genes exposes cancer cells to vulnerabilities and new avenues for attack.

16 Aug 2012

Brain changes can occur after long-term methadone treatment

Long-term methadone treatment can cause changes in the brain, according to recent studies from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. The results show that treatment may affect the nerve cells in the brain. The studies follow on from previous studies where methadone was seen to affect cognitive functioning, such as learning and memory.

16 Aug 2012

Diffusion Pharmaceuticals receives new U.S. patents for trans sodium crocetinate

Diffusion Pharmaceuticals LLC, a biotechnology company focused on innovative cancer treatments, today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted it patent numbers 7919527 and 8030350, entitled "Bipolar Trans Carotenoids Salts and Their Uses" and "Trans Carotenoids, Their Synthesis and Uses," respectively.

16 Aug 2012

Scientists reveal how TREX proteins act as passport for transfer of cell blueprints

Decoded process could hold the key to future treatments for a wide range of chronic health problems including Motor Neuron Disease, myotonic dystrophy and a wide range of cancers, University of Sheffield scientists have revealed.

16 Aug 2012

Rice University researcher to see how delays in gene transcription affect cellular processes

A Rice University researcher and his colleagues have received a National Institutes of Health grant to see how delays in gene transcription - life's most basic messaging system - affect cellular processes.

16 Aug 2012

TG2 plays a key role in serotonin deficiency associated with depression

Connecting the dots between two molecules whose levels are decreased in depression and increased by current antidepressants could yield new therapies, researchers say.

15 Aug 2012

CD4 T cells orchestrate inflammatory attack on the artery wall

Most people probably know that heart disease remains the nation's No. 1 killer. But what many may be surprised to learn is that cholesterol has a major accomplice in causing dangerous arterial plaque buildup that can trigger a heart attack. The culprit? Inflammatory cells produced by the immune system.

15 Aug 2012

Glioblastoma patients with modified PTEN have resistance to EGFR inhibitors

Despite years of research, glioblastoma, the most common and deadly brain cancer in adults, continues to outsmart treatments targeted to inhibit tumor growth.

15 Aug 2012

Antisense therapy shows promise in treating toxoplasmosis

A targeted approach to treating toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease, shows early promise in test-tube and animal studies, where it prevented the parasites from making selected proteins. When tested in newly infected mice, it reduced the number of viable parasites by more than 90 percent, researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

14 Aug 2012

Targeting elevated HLX gene expression may treat acute myeloid leukemia

Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have made a discovery involving mice and humans that could mean that people with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a rare and usually fatal cancer, are a step closer to new treatment options. Their study results were published online today in Cancer Cell.

14 Aug 2012

Scientists identify new genetic alterations underlying high-risk subtype of ALL

Scientists have identified new genetic alterations underlying a high-risk subtype of the most common childhood cancer that could be effectively targeted with existing leukemia therapies.

14 Aug 2012

Novel Cornelia de Lange syndrome gene discovered

Scientists have discovered that mutations in the histone deacetylase 8 gene can cause the rare genetic disorder known as Cornelia de Lange syndrome, which is characterized by intellectual disability, limb deformity, and other disabilities resulting from problems in early development.

13 Aug 2012

Researchers identify new gene in Cornelia deLange syndrome

Genetics researchers have identified a key gene that, when mutated, causes the rare multisystem disorder Cornelia deLange syndrome (CdLS). By revealing how mutations in the HDAC8 gene disrupt the biology of proteins that control both gene expression and cell division, the research sheds light on this disease, which causes intellectual disability, limb deformations and other disabilities resulting from impairments in early development.

13 Aug 2012

Fluorescent molecules 'tag' DNA and monitor looping process

In a new study, UT Dallas researchers outline how they used fluorescent molecules to "tag" DNA and monitor a process called DNA looping, a natural biological mechanism involved in rearranging genetic material in some types of cells.

13 Aug 2012

Verastem second quarter net loss increases to $6.8 million

Verastem, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing drugs to treat breast and other cancers by targeting cancer stem cells, today reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2012, and also commented on certain corporate accomplishments and plans.

13 Aug 2012

HDAC8 gene mutations cause Cornelia deLange syndrome

13 Aug 2012

Manipulating hormone-producing cells in the brain may help control blood sugar levels

Manipulating a group of hormone-producing cells in the brain can control blood sugar levels in the body - a discovery that has dramatic potential for research into weight-loss drugs and diabetes treatment.

10 Aug 2012

Researchers uncover new key player in amplifying stress in early stages of diabetes

At its most fundamental level, diabetes is a disease characterized by stress—microscopic stress that causes inflammation and the loss of insulin production in the pancreas, and system-wide stress due to the loss of that blood-sugar-regulating hormone.

9 Aug 2012

Theranostic imaging targets and tracks potent drug therapies to prostate cancer cells

Experimenting with human prostate cancer cells and mice, cancer imaging experts at Johns Hopkins say they have developed a method for finding and killing malignant cells while sparing healthy ones.

9 Aug 2012

Lung cancer patients can be screened for ALK-inhibitor suitability

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene status in patients with lung adenocarcinoma can be determined non-invasively using circulating tumor cells, research shows.

8 Aug 2012